Guardians of the Galaxy: Film Review

When I first saw the trailer for this, I was not won over, which is unusual for me and Marvel movies but this just seemed a bit weird and I didn’t know what to make of it. However, I was completely wrong. It may have helped that my expectations were low but I loved it. It’s so enjoyable and way better than I ever imagined it would be.

Chris Pratt stars as Peter Quill aka StarLord, a human who is abducted into space as a young boy and, as a grown-up, he spends his time discovering rare, mysterious items to earn money. That is until he finds an Infinity Stone, which are seriously coveted in the superhero world. Everyone wants it, including raccoon mutant Rocket, tree-like humanoid Groot and green girl Gamora (Zoe Saldana). However, they have a bigger bad to fight – the evil Ronan wants it to destroy the galaxy and this band of misfits have to team up to beat him.

It is hilarious. Although this is pegged as a superhero movie, I would call it a comedy. Everything is done for comedy value. Chris Pratt is his usual self but with better abs. Groot is adorable and so funny and Drax’s (Dave Bautista) lack of understanding for sarcasm/metaphors is great. It does not take itself seriously at all, which is refreshing in a way because a lot of these films can get caught up with the brooding/serious leading character.

It is strange having a Marvel film set entirely in space and with so many non-human characters, and it is certainly a struggle to get your head around all the names of people, planets and their relation with each other but once you do, it will be a piece of cake.

Besides the fact that it was a bit tonally weird at times, flitting between comedy and life-threatening action, I can’t fault it. I thought it was great and I was laughing out loud a lot. It will please comic book fans, superhero fans and comedy fans. It is an all-round great film.

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[…] When I first saw the trailer for this I was not impressed. If anything, I was filled with foreboding along the lines of “Marvel’s trying a bit too hard to create new franchises”. So imagine my surprise when I LOVED this. I saw it twice. This space adventure is way more fun than the regular superhero fare and it was absolutely bonkers, yet it totally worked. I have high hopes for the sequel. Read review here. […]